Cuba recalls return of anti-terrorists imprisoned in the US

Havana, Dec 17 (Prensa Latina) The tenth anniversary of the return to Cuba of five anti-terrorist fighters previously imprisoned in the United States, and the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Washington are two milestones recalled on Tuesday in Cuba as a watershed in bilateral ties.

December 17, 2024
14:41

On December 17th 2014 both governments announced to the world they had agreed to normalize relations, after Washington’s unilateral decision to break them in January 1961.

That impasse, which barely lasted the last stretch of the administration of Barack Obama, led to the immediate release and return to Cuba of three of the five anti-terrorist fighters who were serving time in US prisons.

“#TheFiveAnti-TerroristHeroes hug each other free in Havana. The promise of #Fidel (Castro) had been fulfilled. Congratulations #Cuba. It is 10 years since the return to #Cuba of Gerardo (Hernández), Antonio (Guerrero) and Ramón (Labañino), three of the five heroes who for more than 16 years were imprisoned in the US for defending their homeland from terrorism organized and financed in that country,” Díaz-Canel wrote in X.

On that memorable day, the then Cuban president, Army General Raúl Castro, announced the resumption of ties on national radio and television, while his US counterpart said he had instructed his Secretary of State, John Kerry, “to reestablish diplomatic relations” with Cuba.

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